Volta a Portugal (st. 4)

Puerto Rican from Movistar Team interferes in local teams' battle, shies at Grandíssima's Queen stage to now sit fifth overall as best under-23 rider.

Aged just 20, in his maiden WorldTour season, with no experience in the race and against stronger, more numerous squads racing for their lives in their home tour. Abner González (Movistar Team) did not stop fighting against all of that, though, and completed a fantastic performance on Saturday during the Queen stage, day three, of the Volta a Portugal, taking third place atop the Alto da Torre behind Alex Marque (ATM, 1st) and Mauricio Moreira (EFP, 2nd).

Staying strong into an elite group of ten riders with huge presence from W52 – Porto (Antunes, Brandao, Joao Rodrigues) and Efapel (Moreira, Figueiredo, Carvalho), Abner was able to follow all the attacks relatively easily, and only an opportunistic move from Marque kept him from contesting the day’s win. The Puerto Rican champion would later leave both squads behind with a strong acceleration just over 1km from the top, and reached the top with Moreira into a sprint where they both put time on most of the favourites.

The new GC sees Abner in fifth overall, 1’28” back. The ‘Boricua’ will now wear the under-23 leader jersey, conceded by team-mate Juri Hollmann, at another demanding stage on Sunday. It will be the final one before the rest day, over lots of steep, shorter climbs in the final section of day four towards Guarda.

Cover picture (c): Photo Gomez Sport